My Google calendar tells me that today is Rocco Oliverio's birthday. Rocco, a fantastic grassroots organizer, teacher, and community stabilizer, died suddenly and unexpectedly last December around the age of 75. Gloria and I had met him in the 1980s and worked with him closely during Bill Denihan's campaign for mayor, and thereafter. If I recall correctly, the cause of his early death was that his heart failed. For all we knew, he was healthy and vigorous up until the time of his death.
Our friend Ed Hauser, age 47, passed suddenly and unexpectedly this past November 14th. Again, the cause was that his heart gave out. We got to know Ed very well during the Whiskey Island land-grab attempts and later in recording and witnessing many of the ODOT sham hearings. He was tenacious, brave, principled, and able.
Gloria, age 58, on the evening of Ed's funeral-home visitation on November 17th, had a massive heart attack, suddenly and totally unexpectedly, nearly died a few times, and is now just beginning to recover at Metro in the cardiac ICU.
Lonnie L. Burten, scrappy Cleveland councilman, died at the age of 40 on November 29th of 1984. The CLENIX headline reads "Coroner rules that chronic heart ill killed Cnclmn Burten."
At about the same time as Burten's death, State Rep. John (Jay) Carroll of Garfield Heights, age 29, died in his sleep of "hard-to-detect disease of heart." An article later that year points out that Carroll and Colleen Shaughnessy (murdered in August of 1983 in the State Office Building), both destined for successful political careers in Cleveland, both breaths of fresh air, departed this earthly orb too, too early, with "unfinished business."
What's the point of all this, you say? Well, it appears that November and December are rough times of year for hearts, and that a good number of the bright lights in our community, those who love their neighbors, have hearts that break, particularly around the end of the year.
And again, today is Rocco's birthday, and it was always good knowing that Rocco had your back. You could depend on him to do the right thing.
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aw that's sad Dad. :(
ReplyDeletemainly facts, honey--frustration kills--John D. Rockefeller didn't let it get to him; he moved to where he was appreciated
ReplyDeletePlease don't ever move, despite the frustration. We need you both.
ReplyDeleteall is getting better i hope?
ReplyDeleteYes, and we thank all for their prayers, moral support, fine thoughts, and good wishes.
ReplyDeleteMadame told me today she knows now exactly what she must do, and you're included. I guess she needed a quiet space in which to let things come together, and they have.
This is great news, as one of my favorite actors has said, "lets be about it...."
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget Roldo in this equation. He's had a number of serious heart events (both heart attacks and open heart surgeries). A result, no doubt, of his obsessive and singular quest over nearly half a century to tell what's really going on in this region.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: WE ARE GOING TO DC ON JAN 20th 09
ReplyDeleteWeiji, is probably best translated as "dangerous moment", a pretty good definition of "crisis".
Cincinnati Change shall under the leadership of our consultant team take the essence of crisis management from the Chinese word Crisis.
It is born of their age old wisdom came to recognize that even at the level that the idea that a crisis is nothing more than a difficult, precarious opening, a chance to take a risk.
So we are going to take a risk an be on the national mall and stay about a hour away from DC. Its by bus and includes transportation to on Jan 19th and from on January 20th that night for $500. If you want a hotel room that costs 250 a night. We will be in DC for three nights the 19th, the 20th and the 21st. On the 21st we will be meeting with DC Change at NCRC HQ.
CINCINNATI CHANGE believes that America must lead the world through progressive internationalism -- the bold exercise of U.S. leadership to foster peace, prosperity, and democracy. Working with allies from Cincinnati and international institutions makes us stronger, not weaker.
Cincinnati Change plans to create financial instrument[s] capable of financing a revolutionary statewide broadband network and telMED health care prototype infrastructure for Ohio, based on established technology. It will be capable of supporting people nationwide with best practice health care and open source economic development tied to a comprehensive housing program that Erases the Digital Divide by embedding technology into homes that reduces their long term operating cost and improve the lives of residents.
We are a government of citizens in the midst of historic change. Over the next 4 years, the 44th president will be able to set policy for the next 100 years, like another President did, 100 years ago.
In Cincinnati, we will raise funds to create the vehicle to buy 20,000 troubled and/or foreclosed mortgages in Southern Ohio as part of our solution to erase the Development Divide. This will be done in conjunction with property owned by investors who are willing to work with Cincinnati Change and its partners, negotiating the restructuring existing debt will have the option of exercising subscription rights to new debt.
We plan to issue new debt instruments that will be used to put people to work. We will use our open Web 2.0 study of the current tax code to maximize a program that puts people to work in Southern Ohio. We will concentrate principally in infrastructure with a focus on MSD [through 2029], health care, education, technology, energy and reconstruction in Southern Ohio through tax increment financing and other revisions to the tax code through Open Source Solutions to Erasing the Development Divide and American financial crisis.
Cincinnati Change will appeal to all levels of government and use in its application US government programs that can be executed by the public/private alliance Cincinnati Change is assembling.
To implement this, our attorneys will be required to develop, under OMB A-76 Authority, an order that will support export growth based on a 4 year plan to service people around the world starting with the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone with its 50,000 residents and 68,000 employees working for over 3,000 employers.
Our offerings will be centered around digital services in support of economic development, career support, social [L.I.S.W.] services, human [The NET Video] and health care [OneCommunity] that supports a super set of International Standards Organization [ISO] 26000.
This Cincinnati Change Chairwoman, Wanda J Lloyd Daniels, will work with Unions while the AEC/GM team will be led by Fred Hargrove Sr. PE, MBA [who is also a licensed master plumber] and the contracted HUD and Tax Code programs will be directed Dr. Robert Day.
The workshop will be presented at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Site) from 12 to 4 on this Thursday and Friday, Dec.11th and 12th, 2008.
Posted by Nati Change Cdr. at 2:59 AM 0 comments
Labels: 44, A-76, Chairwoman, Frederick Douglas, Hargrove, OMB, OneCommunity, Open Source, POTUS, Taxes, The NET Video
this is a nice post
ReplyDelete